How Denver congregations are responding to the DNC. Some are feeling crowded out, others are welcoming delegates with open arms.

"While the city finally released the list of street closures last week, churches still feel left out of the process and without answers to key questions.

For example, will regular worshippers be able to reach them? What about parking? And what about access for the poor and homeless who depend on the churches' outreach services and daily sandwich lines?

"That's been an ongoing hassle with the city," said the Rev. Kevin Maly, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 16th and Grant, which feeds up to 1,000 poor people every day. "We're getting nothing from them. They don't ever talk to us. It's an ongoing thing."

The city didn't respond to three requests from the Rocky for comment.

Burned by the city's silence during past events, Maly is in a fighting mood: "I am personally committed to challenging any attempts to limit access to St. Paul," he said, in a subsequent e-mail.

"It's pretty unclear at the local level," agreed the Rev. Chrysostom Frank, pastor of St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church, which is adjacent to the designated protest route along Speer Boulevard.

St. Elizabeth's plans to continue its daily noon Masses, even though they fall at the height of the protest hours. That is, as long as worshippers can get there - "and as long as I can get there," Frank said.